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Sunday, 30 September 2007

This card uses some SEI paper I have had for absolute ages. It's double-sided, so the red tag-thingy uses the reverse side. I wasn't sure what to put on said tag-thingy and in the end, handcut the blue heart to make a flower like the ones in the paper. I think it works. Ribbon is Papermania, as is the flower brad, and the rub-on greeting came with a magazine. Must get myself some more rub-ons, I'm liking them a lot just now.

Well, we went to the curling rink yesterday, but I ended up not going on. I suppose I could have had a shot, but someone had to watch youngest daughter, so I volunteered. Hubby got a lesson, and the older two girls and their friend got some coaching, too. They all enjoyed themselves hugely and didn't land on the ice nearly as often as I feared. Middle daughter was the most excited about it all, but unfortunately, she is still too young to start learning properly (they take them from 8, and she is only 6), so she was rather disappointed.

Signed up for another craft fair today, so my friend and I will be having stalls at 3 different events now. Two are happening on the same day, so we'll have to split up, but we're not really wanting to miss the opportunity. Not that they are huge money-spinners, it just feels nice when people actually buy your cards. And we always have a laugh! Got to get busy now - really busy!!!

Friday, 28 September 2007

Happy Friday! It's definitely been a happy post day, because first of all, the postie brought my little blog candy package from Kathy, yay! Inside, I found a lovely card and a maze book, decorated in one of my favourite colour combos at the moment, orange and purple! It's beautiful, full of all sorts of detail, I just need to find photos to put in it now. So I'm only posting a shot of the front cover just now, and will post the whole book once it has been filled. Thank you, Kathy!

Later in the day, I also received a parcel with my latest order. I couldn't resist any longer and ordered some Cuttlebug embossing folders, and while I was there, I ordered a few sheets of DB papers. I've been quite restrained though, don't you think? I'm still waiting for one more folder though, it's out of stock at the mo.

And now onto today's DCM challenge of incorporating a frame on our cards. Well, I had to have a play with my embossing folders, and that's why there's not a scrap of patterned paper in sight. Frame came out of a Lakeland pack that I've had for years and really gone off, but it's been resurrected to good effect. Cardstock is Paper Mill Shop, ribbon John Lewis, nothing fancy.

Love the embossing folders, they're so easy to use! You'll probably see a lot of embossing on my cards from now on...

Have had a good morning as well, youngest daughter's nursery was taking part in the Macmillan Coffee Morning, and about a dozen of us sat, chatted and had tea and cakes. The remaining cakes (yes, we did leave some, lol) were sold at the end of the day, so hopefully we raised a nice little sum for the charity.

Wish me luck for tomorrow, I might be slipping and sliding along a curling rink for the first time! My friend's husband is a curler, and he's offered to take us, along with his family, to a taster session. It'll be great to get a shot, but there is also great embarrassment potential! And the kids will either love it or be in tears constantly because they're falling on the ice. Nothing like looking on the bright side... I'm looking forward to it - honest!

Monday, 24 September 2007

Wow, I'm never on the computer this early! But hubby has got the day off today and is taking the kids to school, and that means I have a little bit of time to spare and can post my latest creation. So I've made a card for the DCM dare of using a charity shop find on our cards. This was definitely a challenge, and I've actually quite enjoyed it! Not the trip to the charity shop, however. There wasn't much there, really, and I wasn't going to pay £5.00 either for a new necklace or other piece of jewellery. So I ended up buying a child's t-shirt and this is what I took off:

5 bits of lace and three little buttons, all for £1.50... And when I remembered some vintage-feel papers that came with my trusty magazine once, the whole thing came together quite quickly:

I think the paper is Melissa Frances, cardstock is DCWV, and the hearts and sentiment have been cut with QK dies.

It's been a good weekend, we actually took our trip to the beach on Saturday. It was sunny and warm-ish for most of the time, but there was definitely a stiff breeze! The kids had a blast, running in and out of the water, building sandcastles, finding these huge shells and some crabs, exploring the rock pools - all the stuff you do at the beach, and it was good! It was fun to watch some kite surfers, too, I'd never seen them before! Not sure I'd want to do it, but it looked cool! Sunday was spent catching up and the kids played outside with their friends for ages. Made good use of two beautiful days, since the weather actually got it right this time: sunshine at the weekend, grey skies and wet ground this morning!

Sunday, 23 September 2007

Here is the card I made for Beate's latest challenge on Fresh & Fun. I'm no stamper, but I still like to see if I can use the sketches she provides. I've used some DCWV cardstock and patterned paper, Sizzix flower die, QK Shortkutz phrase die and Doodlebug paper frill, plus a wee flower punch and a button from an assortment I've had for a while.Now I'm going to go and see if I can come up with something for the DCM Charity Shop challenge. I've been and bought something, but it was really out of desperation to get anything, the choice wasn't great... Hoping to have it ready for tomorrow...

Friday, 21 September 2007

Well, Friday is normally my day for the DCM challenge, but that will have to wait this time. The dare is to go to a charity shop and buy something there to use on a card. I'm planning on going tomorrow morning. Don't usually go to charity shops and the few times I have, I never found anything, so this will be interesting! But I sort of feel honour-bound to complete this challenge, especially since I chickened out of the Little Extra this week... See, gold is so not my colour! I don't like gold jewellery much, and you won't find a lot of gold on my cards, even at Xmas time - silver, yes, gold, not so much.

I did, however, try my hands at a CPS challenge for the first time and made Christmas card for sketch #31.

It's pretty simple, but still quite fun, I think. Used my Sizzix circle die, chopped two circles in half, and decorated the middle one with my trusty Cuttlebug trees. Paper is Doodlebug, ricrac from John Lewis, cardstock from the Paper Mill Shop.

I also made these, in an effort to increase my stock of cards - I'm going to a couple of local craft fairs/fundraisers to sell my cards at the beginning of November, and it's getting worryingly close. Some are variations on a theme, others are experiments - here goes:

Oh yes, I nearly forgot: I won! Remember the card below I made for Kathy's birthday challenge? Well, my name got pulled out of the hat! I'm so excited, I don't usually win stuff! No idea yet what I'm getting, but everything that Kathy uses and makes is scrummy, so I know I'm in for a wee treat. Thanks again, Kathy!That's it for today, but I hope to be back at some point over the weekend. However, we do have trips to the beach (weather permitting) and the bowling alley planned, so family fun will take priority over crafting fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, 16 September 2007

Well, I'm trying to branch out with my challenges and today have completed two in one: firstly, the latest Di Hickman sketch challenge, and secondly, Kathy's challenge to make her a birthday card! So, happy birthday, Kathy, sorry it's late, but it was just too dark last night when I finished the card to take a picture. Having said that, today is not much better as it's pouring outside and the light is anything but great... I'm hoping it's the thought that counts...I had fun doing this, but it was quite a tricky one. The sketch looked fairly straightforward, but it wasn't that easy to make it look interesting, and Kathy's recipe of 3 flowers, 3 ribbons and 3 papers, well, that's pushing me right outside my comfort zone. Thank goodness for magazines and taster packs of coordinating papers! Papers are Junkitz, flowers are Prima, brads and yellow ribbon are Dovecraft, ricrac is John Lewis, blue ribbon is Papermania and the rub-on came with a magazine.On a different note, isn't it typical that the rain has come on now that the kids have two days off from school? They went back only 4 weeks ago, and they're off already! And we won't be able to go outside, if it continues to pour like this. I think some crafting activities will be in order, and maybe a trip to the local (very crowded, I daresay) softplay centre. And a long lie in the morning will be nice - yes, I'm lucky enough to have kids who like to sleep in a little. However, they'll probably be up bright and early, now that I've said this... Little horrors :)

Friday, 14 September 2007

Well, I must be feeling sunny today :) I thought about making another Christmas card for the latest DCM challenge, but suddenly felt in the mood for something warm, sunny and friendly. Hence my orange creation below:

The challenge was to use a word as the main focal point of the card, and I like that idea. I've made many a card with "Mum" or "Dad" on it, or names, so today, I tried to steer clear of that and try something different. I'm also trying to mix patterned papers more - some people just have a knack for that and no matter what they throw together, it looks good. Me, not so much... I'm sticking with coordinating papers right now from stacks or pads, and that's fine, I'm pretty happy with the results. Whether I will ever graduate to mixing and matching papers that weren't designed to go together, I don't know. I have to say though, doing these challenges for the last few weeks has already pushed me beyond what I "normally" do, and I'm trying just that little bit harder to be more creative and try something new. So thank you, Daring Cardmakers, and Beate, too!

Wednesday, 12 September 2007

Another challenge completed, again for the DCM, where the Little Extra this week asked us to items in pairs of Big and Little. In an effort to keep Xmas card production going (admittedly, at a snail's pace, but it's going), I made a Xmas card and then I also made a birthday card, just because... And here are my efforts:

On the Christmas card, I used big and little Sizzix die cut stars, all inked in dark blue, and the patterned papers are DCWV. Greeting is computer printed and sits on a Doodlebug paper frill.On the birthday card, I used big and little flowers from a Lakeland bumper pack, with button centres. Gingham papers are from a Costco pack, "happy" was cut with a QK die, "birthday" is a Dymo label.Thanks for looking, till next time!

Friday, 7 September 2007

Yay, I've done two challenges in one day! This time I got my skates on and made a card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #18, so I can actually enter it! I did like the sketch and had lots of fun with the bright papers I used, but in the end I had to give up on the circle and use a square instead. I'm not very good with my Fiskars shape cutter, and I don't have any circle dies/punches big enough... Let's just hope I'm allowed off... Here goes:

I used Junkitz paper that came with a magazine, Sizzix cupcake die, a piece of pink ribbon, and MM magnetic letter stamps for the sentiment. Plus a good helping of pink ink round all the edges. Tomorrow this card will be winging its way to Pennsylvania, hopefully to arrive in time for my friend's daughter's birthday next week.

I had fun today, but now must go and cook dinner - how dull! To more productive crafting days, and thanks everybody, for looking.

Wow, it's Friday again, somehow the weeks seem to be flying in! Friday has always been my favourite day, because I'm a very lucky girl: most Fridays, my 3 darling daughters go to visit my lovely in-laws! For the whole afternoon!!! I am so grateful! Dedicated me-time, which I used to spend shopping, watching telly, lazing about, but for some time now it's become craft time. And now it's craft time with a purpose, because there's a challenge to take part in. And without further ado, here's my effort for today's challenge by the DCM.

We were asked to make a Christmas card using the colour purple, some torn paper and a hole. Quite a combination, but I had fun playing with some new paper and dies. So the card blank is purple, and there is some purple in the pp. PP itself is Dovecraft and has a torn edge, and the holes are punched snowflakes along the bottom edge, which in real life are nicely set off by the white insert. Apologies for the poor photograph: methinks I need to practise a little more, and I need to find the right place to take my piccies in. The light just never seems to be right when I try to take photos of my cards.

Well, so much for now, I might be back later, as I've still got a birthday card to make. If I'm not, I'll be enjoying a glass of wine with friends. Aaaahhh, the life!

Wednesday, 5 September 2007

I'm rather pleased with myself today - no, I haven't cleaned the house from top to bottom, but I did manage to make three cards! My husband thinks my priorities need sorted out...

The first one is for the Daring Cardmakers Little Extra, and I did struggle with that a little bit. I'm not really a softie, I'm more one for straight lines and symmetry - and this is part of the reason why I've started doing these challenges, I want to try and be less regimented. Not quite there yet, as you'll see below...

I used felt letters and some fluffy fibres wrapped round the pp bits, felt came from John Lewis, fibres from a Lakeland pack and pp are Rob and Bob/Provocraft. Picture is not great as it was taken in the evening when the light was getting poorer.

The next card is for a friend who asked me to do a "New Home" card for her, and with this one, I followed a sketch from Beate Johns . When my husband saw it, he said "Did YOU do that? That's really good!" Hmmmhhhh.... He explained that he was just surprised because it wasn't my usual style... Men!

Papers are Rob and Bob again, house is a Cuttlebug die and stamped message is MM magnetic letter stamps.

The last one is for another friend who asked me to do a card for a wee boy who has just had a baby sister. Again, it's probably a bit different from what I normally do, but I think it's quite fun and should appeal to a wee boy. Train engine is a Sizzix die, I handcut the track and used some punched stars to jazz up the background a bit.

It's been a very productive day, craftwise :)

Back in the real world, I had the pleasure tonight of attending "Meet the Teacher" night at my daughters' primary school. I went last night to listen to a presentation by our new headteacher and meet middle daughter's teachers and tonight, to meet eldest daughter's teacher (was allowed off the HT presentation). Overall, the presentations were informative and helpful. It's nice to have a slightly better idea of what goes on during the girls' day at school, because once they're home, it's virtually impossible to get any information out of them. Me: "What did you do at school today?" Daughters: "Can't remember." Some things come out eventually, but usually a few days after they would have been useful to know... So apparently we're meant to ask "What did you LEARN at school today?" I'll give it a go, but I'm not holding my breath. The new HT has lots of ideas and plans for the school, some sound good, others maybe not so workable, but time will tell. I'm just always wary when lots of buzzwords are used and like to wait and see if they're actually followed up with actions. Cynical me, I must be getting old.

I'm away now for a cup of hot chocolate and then off to bed for an early night (kinda confirms the sentence before, doesn't it?) Thanks, everybody, for looking, and thanks to all of you who left such lovely comments on my last post, I'm still a little stunned.